RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 159, 13 November 1997
SOLANA ON HUNGARY'S NATO REFERENDUM. NATO Secretary-General
Javier Solana on 12 November told Hungarian reporters in Brussels
that Budapest cannot expect to join the alliance in the near future if
Hungarians reject NATO accession in the 16 November referendum.
He said it depends on the Hungarian government and constitution
what happens if the vote is invalidated because of a low turnout. MSZ
FREER TRAVEL BETWEEN HUNGARY, SLOVENIA. Interior Ministers
Mirko Bandelj of Slovenia and Gabor Kuncze of Hungary signed an
agreement in Budapest on 12 November that will enable citizens of
each country to visit the other with only their internal identity
papers. The two ministers also agreed to better implement the rules
set down in the EU's Schengen border control agreement along their
common border. PM
NO SOLUTION TO ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW... The Senate
convenes on 13 November to debate government regulations issued
earlier this year amending the 1996 education law. The regulations
provided for teaching history and geography in the mother tongue,
but a commission of the Senate headed by a National Peasant Party
Christian Democratic (PNTCD) deputy overruled those provisions. The
PNTCD leadership on 12 November endorsed the commission's
changes, a move Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania
(UDMR) leader Bela Marko said is "unacceptable." Earlier, Marko had
commented in an interview on state television that the UDMR would
accept a compromise whereby only the teaching of history in
Romanian would be compulsory. MS
....WHILE NATIONALISTS MOVE ANTI-HUNGARIAN MINORITY
MOTION IN PARLIAMENT. The Party of Romanian National Unity on
12 November moved a motion to debate the situation of ethnic
Romanians in Harghita and Covasna Counties, where Hungarians
constitute a majority, the RFE/RL Bucharest bureau reported. The
motion says Romanians in those counties are in danger of losing their
national identity as a result of the policies pursued by the UDMR. In
addition, it calls for launching a "national program" to prevent
assimilation of the Romanians living there. The motion, which is also
backed by the Greater Romania Party, the Alliance for Romania, and
one deputy from the Ecologist Party, is to be debated on 17
November. MS
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